City Government

Garden City To Eagle: “Go Peddle Your Pedal Plans Elsewhere”

When Jim Reynold’s, Eagle’s new mayor recently sent a letter to Garden City’s mayor asking for a joint city council meeting to discuss greenbelt bike path ideas, he was told not to peddle his pedal plans in Garden City by Mayor John Evans.

The Committee for an Open Greenbelt has been fighting for years trying to get Garden City to open a stretch of the Greenbelt on the north side of the Boise River bicyclists. They are suing Garden City in a case pending in 4th District Court.

The GUARDIAN obtained a copy of Evans’ answering letter which we share here:

Why does Eagle think that they can run Garden City just because they want to ride bikes on their Nature Path? Years ago when the area was less populated and more kind, I did not understand why GC did not want bikes on their part of the “green belt”. Now with as many people as their are I have to agree that GC can do what they want.

Why does Eagle think that they can run Garden City just because they want to ride bikes on their Nature Path?”

Well Sam, it is because Eagle is filled with a bunch of know-it-all statists who hassle citizens who want to open up downtown bars or have outdoor seating to their restaurants, who enter lease agreements for city hall offices with cronies after the citizens voted no on a new city hall. And then they wonder why their downtown sucks and their coffers are empty. Since very few want to be hassled by applying to the city for development or building, the city has to look elsewhere for dragons to slay. There, finished.

Why does Eagle think that they can run Garden City just because they want to ride bikes on their Nature Path?

Well, maybe it’s because the citizens of Eagle are also citizens of the State of Idaho… which owned the land where the BIKE PATH (not “nature path”!) is located… and deeded it to Garden City with the stipulation that it be maintained going forward as a BIKE PATH. (Yep – that’s what the legal documents say; it’s all in public records.) I live in Boise and I’m an Idaho citizen, and I, too, demand that the fiefdom of Garden City open up MY bike path!

How would you feel if Mayor Evans closed Chinden to motor traffic, and limited it to oxcarts and wheelbarrows? Evans is the statist in this story.

I encourage all interested parties to be at the Courthouse on 12/15 at 3:30pm, so Judge Copsey will see that there is significant interest on the part of us Idaho citizens.

Bike trails are a noble gesture and I support Eagle, hometown of Sen. Larry and how is he doing now? What use is being made of the historical Ada County Courthouse? Memorable WPA murals there that I fondly recall. Shower down news.

Garden City is also advertising its proximity to Esther Simplot Park and the new Whitewater park yet they’re not providing access or parking. Nor did they cough up one dime for its construction and also want to move the city boundary from the east bank to the west bank so they won’t be responsible for costs involved in maintenance and police and rescue services.

Again, it is in the best interests of the majority that the State of Idaho force the consolidation of the cities of Boise and Garden City.

My hat is off to Mayor Reynolds for trying to represent the interests of the citizens of Eagle. (Eagle citizens are probably affected more than most by the arbitrary closure.)

I’d like to know where Mayor Bieter is. Why isn’t he asking to have the bike path opened on behalf of Boise bicyclists? Where is ACHD? Where is COMPASS? (They are supposedly the champions of multi-modal transportation, ridge-to-rivers, etc.) They ALL should be demanding that Evans take down his signs.

Does Bikeboy have an agenda that is focused on his own dreams and aspirations rather than looking at the good of all?

Just think, if New York City had more people like Bikeboy, selfish developers would have made Central Park into high-rise hotels and buildings rather than a natural area that millions enjoy every year.

Bikeboy, are your selfish ideas clouding your ability to look at more than one point of view?

Are their available options so that you can ride your bicycle on the South side of the river? Or is your way, the only way?

I am late on my comments on GC and Eagle. I firmly believe that Eagle has designated itself the elite community in the area. I came to this conclusion when I realized there were subdivisions that your house could be any color as long as it was gray. Garden City is a city of many colors. Please stay that way.

Brad, The only other way is through a residential neighborhood with many intersections and driveways. The Southside does not currently connect all the way through. I heard from a source that Garden City turned down a comprise. Open this section to bikes until the bridge is built, after that it can resume as a walking path.

Bikeboy, are your selfish ideas clouding your ability to look at more than one point of view?

You’re WAY off, Brad.

As a matter of fact, the ONLY time I’ve ever been on the “Riverside Village” stretch of bike path is when I attended a protest rally and walked its length with my granddaughter. I may never travel that way again. Or if it were open to rolling through on my bike, I might… but my selfish desire isn’t motivating me in any way.

The reason I’m interested is:
1) I know cyclists who WOULD use that path regularly, if it weren’t illegal.
2) I can totally appreciate the vision of a contiguous bike path along the river, from Lucky Peak to Eagle and points beyond. If it existed – and I hope it does someday – I wouldn’t use it regularly, but I’d probably ride the entire length a few times each year.

You’ve got it all backwards, Brad. The selfish ones are Mayor Evans and his provincial group of supporters who have co-opted a public bike path and declared it their private “Nature Path,” at the expense of cyclists from Garden City and throughout the valley (who are welcome on Boise’s bike paths).

(I’m sympathetic to pedestrians who complain about bad bicyclist behavior. I’m with them! But we don’t solve the drunk-driving problem by closing the roads to all motorists, either.)

I’m with bikeboy, and thank you for sticking to the issue and not resorting to personal attacks.

I’m a proud born-and-raised Boisean. I bike in Boise at least every weekday year-round. I have four kids and a beautiful wife. We have one car in the family. I enjoy a daily commute which allows me to be on the Greenbelt 85% of the way, helping to keep me safe from motorists buzzing to work. This is especially true in the winter months when I am biking in the dark more often. I respect pedestrians and follow proper Greenbelt and cycling etiquette and law.

It saddens and frustrates me to think that commuters from Boise to Eagle and vice versa are not afforded this same safe and convenient right on publicly owned land because the bureaucrats in Garden City, with the “Riverside Village” developer at its helm, are engaged in nothing more than a childish pissing contest.

Because of this arrogance and near-sightedness, my young, cycling children can’t enjoy a long, uninterrupted bike ride safe from motorists not always being attentive to their blind spots and things smaller than they from one end of our beautiful valley to the other because GC wants to hold on to its self-name, self-proclaimed “nature path” when it has no legal right to do so.

Grrrr.

PS – Thanks for the heads-up about the hearing on 12/15. I’ll be there with my helmet on.

I find it interesting that the people who live in that Garden City subdivision use “Boise” as an address because the zip code allows it. They are residents of Boise in name only.
I believe Mayor Evans also uses Boise as his mailing address as does most of the city council.

Silly me. I have lived in Boise since I was born here. I’ve biked here all of my life and am still waiting for bike paths which do not suddenly end. Now I am left to ride with no path. I do not like to be limited to the path along the river. I live on the Bench and do not enjoy putting my bike on the top of my car to take it for a ride before taking a ride. And I still say, put the path on one side of the river.

Jacki,
Not sure you are with me. I just bought a property in Garden City and I am proud to say the address is in Garden City.
Mr Mayor John Evans and his Musketeers seem also be ashamed to live in Garden City as you are.
Quite pathetic I think.